Veteran defenseman John Carlson is in his 17th NHL season, all with the Capitals. He’s in the final year of his contract, making him extension-eligible but the team informed him early that they didn’t want to engage in extension talks but rather want to see how the year plays out first. Speaking with NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti earlier this week, the 35-year-old acknowledged that he’d much rather prefer to have the security of a new contract in place but understands the business side of why they want to wait as well. Carlson is making $8MM per season on this contract and with the likelihood of his role starting to decrease over the next few years, his next deal should come in at least a little below that price tag. But if Washington decides not to bring him back, Carlson is already ruling out retiring and in that scenario, he’d be looking elsewhere in free agency next summer.
More from the Metropolitan:
- Long-time NHL rearguard Jay McKee wound up being a finalist for the Flyers coaching job, relays Scott Wheeler of The Athletic (subscription link). He was linked as a speculative candidate if Philadelphia expanded its search but he wound up having a three-hour interview for the position. McKee’s desire is not to be an NHL assistant first before moving to a head coaching role at the top level but he hasn’t ruled out going that route if an NHL head coaching job doesn’t materialize.
- Rangers blueliner Will Borgen will play against Montreal tonight, notes Mollie Walker of the New York Post (Twitter link). He has been dealing with a lingering lower-body issue that has held him out of practice and resulted in a mid-week recall of Scott Morrow but it appears that Borgen will be good to go. The 28-year-old has an assist, seven blocks, and eight hits in six games so far this season.
- Still with the Rangers, defenseman Carson Soucy took part in practice today in a regular (contact) jersey, mentions Vince Z. Mercogliano of The Athletic (Twitter link). The blueliner was placed on injured reserve earlier this week with an upper-body injury. Soucy isn’t eligible to be activated until Monday but it appears that he won’t miss more time than the minimum seven days.
“McKee’s desire is not to be an NHL assistant first before moving to a head coaching role at the top level but he hasn’t ruled out going that route if an NHL head coaching job doesn’t materialize.”
Well, @Brian, that one’s a little weird. It sounds like McKee prefers to cut to the front of the line, and let those other guys slog it out in the trenches for a few years.